American Dreams- Episode Guide: Season One: Episode 1

Synopsis:

NEW EVOCATIVE DRAMA TELLS THE STORY OF THE PRYOR FAMILY OF PHILADELPHIA AS THEY BRACE FOR CULTURAL TURBULENCE AHEAD -- Meg Pryor's (Brittany Snow, "Guiding Light") lifelong dream is to dance on the iconic 1960s television series "American Bandstand," and along with her adventurous confidante, Roxanne Bojarski (Vanessa Lengies, "Popular Mechanics for Kids"), the 15-year-old's persistence pays off when they find themselves on camera, dancing amongst a variety of teen idols. While his younger sister realizes her dreams, JJ Pryor (Will Estes, "7th Heaven") questions his own childhood ambitions as he struggles to decide between striving for a Notre Dame football scholarship and making a life-altering change. Family patriarch Jack Pryor (Tom Verica, NBC's "Providence"), concerned with his children's defiant behavior as well as with wife Helen's (three-time Emmy nominee Gail O'Grady, "NYPD Blue") influential new friends (guest star Virginia Madsen, "The Rainmaker"), watches his idealistic family buckle under the era's social challenges on the eve of the decade's watershed event. Joe Lawrence ("Blossom") and Ethan Dampf also star.

(From TV Guide)
Debut: American Bandstand provides the backdrop for this drama about a Philadelphia family struggling to come to grips with the 1960s.

As the show opens in November 1963, Jack Pryor (Tom Verica) believes he pretty much has it all: a house with a yard his five kids can play in; his own TV store; and two weeks at the Jersey shore each summer. Other members of the family, however, have some issues: son J.J. (Will Estes) doesn't want to play football for his high school anymore (which would cost him a Notre Dame scholarship); his wife, Helen (Gail O'Grady) doesn't want to have any more children; and daughter Meg (Brittany Snow) wants desperately to dance on the Philly-based Bandstand.